Health Blogs

Autoimmune Protocol (AIP)

Welcome! I am going through the Elimination Phase of the Autoimmune Protocol. Why? I am a type 1, insulin-free, diabetic managing my diabetes through a Paleo diet and healthy lifestyle. Over the holidays of 2017, my blood sugar levels were higher than desired. On February 19, 2018, I began the 30 Day Autoimmune Protocol to heal my gut and get my blood sugar levels back under control.

Blood sugar control when sick is a valid area of concern for a type 1 diabetic. The diabetic educator at my endocrinologist’s office spent a good bit of our first meeting discussing what to do when I get sick. The balance of activity and food intake is thrown off, so how should a type 1 diabetic handle sick days?

Since I am not taking insulin (my Paleo diet and exercise is enough to keep my blood sugar in range), the way I manage my blood sugar when sick is different. I continue to eat as I am hungry, and I eat the same fresh, AIP-friendly food I did when not sick. My pancreas is controlling my blood sugar levels so I will not go low, even with low food consumption. I have found my daytime blood sugar will stay in range, even when I sit on the couch all day!

The hard part of managing my blood sugar when sick is the morning or fasting blood sugar reading. This week a light has begun to dawn on me. I think the reason my fasting blood sugar has been higher is a combination of three things:

Not sleeping through the night

Not waking up on time

Not getting exercise

In many ways, Week 4 felt like a repeat of Week 3. My family was still sick, and I succumbed to the sickness for about a day and a half. I only got a headache and sore throat for 36 hours which I attribute the short length and severity to my healthy diet. The major change came at the end of Week 4: my kids started sleeping through the night again! I am now seeing some improvement in my fasting blood sugar reading. My hunch as the reason? I started sleeping through the night, waking up at normal time, and getting a work-out in. Time will tell if the readings will continue to improve, but I am encouraged so far!

Let’s dig into the food I ate!

Food

I continued my goal of making breakfast easier from Week 3 into Week 4. Prepping my veggies the night before and cooking two meals at once is the way to go! Breakfast comes together so much easier!

Lunch

Leftovers is the name of the game for lunch. I plan to make enough at dinner to eat the same meal again the next day. I try to make it a little bit different by adding fresh vegetables or fruit, but sometimes it is the exact same meal. This is a sanity-saver for me. I need one of my meals each day to be easy, meaning on the table in less than 5 minutes. Leftovers is how I do it!

Dinner

Dinner is where the real bulk of my cooking takes place. I love variety and cooking, so most of my effort goes to this meal.

Week 5 started out with my birthday! I made an AIP-friendly tapioca pudding, pictured below, and it was so pretty, I had to include it in the dinner round-up. Also Day 21 and 22 had the exact same thing for dinner, no need to see the same meal twice!

Top Recipes of the Week

Korean Chicken Soup (similar) – This is my husband’s absolute favorite chicken soup. It is the same one his mom made for him when he was sick as a child. I did alter this recipe to make it AIP/Paleo friendly. The Autoimmune Protocol is grain-free, so I left out the rice completely. I stuffed the chicken cavity with only garlic, dates, and ginger, plus salt and pepper. It is such a simple soup and so delicious! To serve the soup, top with sesame seeds (Paleo only) and chopped green onions. I forgot to buy onions this time, much to my husband’s disappointment.

Adobo Chicken Burger – A recipe so good, I’ve made it twice in this Autoimmune Protocol journey! The burgers come together quickly, and they are delicious. I do follow the AIP-friendly spice blend, not the store-bought one recommended in the recipe. Top these burgers with the Avocado Mayo and a side of roasted vegetables, and you’ve got one delicious meal!

Blood Sugar

Yet another week of interrupted sleep and no morning routine, and just to spice it up, throw in a Daylight Savings Time in there! Ha! I didn’t need another thing messing up my sleep!

Life is not always perfect. I roll with the punches just like you do. As noted above, I am encouraged by my sleep routine returning to normal that my morning blood sugar will follow suit. Normal for me, a type 1 diabetic, would be less than 130 when I wake up. Currently, I’m in the 160’s and low 170’s when I wake up.

One odd thing happened this week. On Day 23, I was very high at bed time, 248 ( My goal is less than 150 when I go to bed.). I still haven’t figured out what happened. I took the usual precautions after a high reading. (A mis-read due to dirty hands is usually the culprit.) So I washed my hands, dried them well, then got a new test strip and tried again. The second reading was 251. Hmm. So I guess my blood sugar is really high.

I changed a couple things at dinner that night that I thought might be a problem: a new priobiotic and skin on the sweet potato fries. Due to my son being on antibiotics, I bought childrens priobiotics to help repopulate his gut bacteria after wiping it out. I thought this was a good a time as any for the whole family to take a probiotic, so I purchased some for the rest of us. Day 23 was the first day I took the priobiotic with dinner.

Skin on white potatoes digests differently than the flesh of the potato. The skin itself can be inflammatory; some potatoes, like Yukon Gold, can be tolerated if the skin is removed. I don’t know if this is true of sweet potatoes though. Those are the only things I ate differently that night versus other nights.

I don’t have an answer for why this reading was so high. I’ve continued to take the probiotic since Day 23 with no adverse blood sugar effects. I’ve also eaten the leftover sweet potato fries without a dramatic increase is blood glucose. I don’t have an answer. A fluke? Seems unlikely, but I’m moving on. No need to cry over spilt milk!

How I Feel

I continue to have great energy, even when battling sickness myself. I’ve been sick twice in the last few months, and both times the sickness only lasted 36 hours. That’s crazy! It’s a huge testament to the strength of my immune system to fight off infection and my healthy diet.

Shameless Paleo plug: You could be sick less too! Stop eating wheat and processed foods! You will be so much healthier, less sick, and have more energy!

Goals for Week 5

I’ve been posting these updates by weeks as opposed to days. It looks like I’m at the end of the elimination period of the Autoimmune Protocol, but in reality, I’m only at Day 25 (as you can see in the food pictures above). For now, I’m continuing on with the elimination period. I’ve encountered two other individuals who’ve gone through the Autoimmune Protocol, and both were in the elimination period longer than 30 days (one for 3 months, one for 1 year).

I’ve grocery shopped for 2 more weeks of Autoimmune Protocol diet, and I’ll evaluate at the end of the period to see if I will start to reintroduce foods. As far as food goals, I was able to incorporate some salmon and lamb into my diet in the next week. So excited to eat some different meat!

Mark’s Daily Apple is a great source of health information. This article about the Autoimmune Protocol is very interesting. My biggest takeaway is that I’ve been eating dates and chocolate! Doh! Both in small amounts, but I have been breaking the diet in that respect. I’m getting back on the AIP elimination phase completely. I’m hoping that returning to a normal sleep schedule, morning routine with exercise, and removing these two things from my diet will do wonders on my blood sugar. I’ll keep you posted!

A type 1 diabetic can maintain in range blood sugar when sick! Press on! Figure out what is throwing you off and course correct if you can. If you can’t, wait it out. Life will return to normal eventually. Two weeks of sickness and lack of sleep really took it’s toll on my fasting blood sugar. I’m trusting the food I eat and my lifestyle habits will course correct this next week. My plan is eat real food, sleep 8 hours every night, wake-up at the same time every morning, and get back to exercising.

What’s your plan to live a healthy lifestyle? What is important to you? Sleep? Food? Organic food? No processed food? What are you passionate about?

Welcome! Here’s a little background information to catch you up: I am a Type 1, insulin-free, Diabetic managing my diabetes through a Paleo diet and healthy lifestyle. Over the holidays of 2017, my blood sugar levels were higher than desired due to dairy in the candy I was eating. Eliminating the candy from my diet (and coffee and alcohol, the other two suspects) didn’t yield improved enough blood sugar levels so on February 19, 2018, I began the 30 Day Autoimmune Protocol (more information on AIP) to heal my gut and get my blood sugar levels back under control.

Week 3 threw me some curveballs: diet-breaking eating out, family illness, a broken appliance, and raging hormones. I had no trouble cooking and eating my Autoimmune Protocol-friendly meals (even while sick!), but my blood sugar levels were not quite where I’d like them to be. At the end of the week, even with higher than desired blood sugar, I was still in the healthy range for a Type 1 Diabetic. You too can conquer your autoimmune disease through this diet, while battling sickness.

Let me explain a bit to set the stage for my week:

1. Dining out at the end of Week 2

At the end of Week 2, I went out to eat at a restaurant that is very careful with food sensitivities and allergies. I’ve had no issues eating there before, but I also was not on the Autoimmune Protocol when I went there last. I broke the diet in, at least, two ways: a duck egg and dessert. The duck egg is obvious, eggs are out during the elimination phase. The dessert is more unclear because I don’t know exactly what was in it. It was a flourless Meyer lemon cake topped with powdered sugar and a scoop of grapefruit sorbet on the the side. The waiter assured me it was gluten-free and dairy-free. I believe it was, but I’ll bet it was not AIP compliant. It had lots of sugar and likely nut flour of some kind. The powdered sugar on top could have had corn starch or something similar in it too. So all that to say, I don’t know exactly what was in it. It could have been the source of my higher blood sugar levels in the following days.

2. Sickness

The flu hit my family hard this week. Some days I was very busy cleaning and caring for my family, and other days were very sedentary as I sat on the couch for most of the day holding sick, miserable babies. My night’s sleep was always interrupted as well. By the end of the week, I succumbed to the plague too.

3. Broken washing machine

I know this might sound trivial, but the fact that I couldn’t wash sheets or clothes while my family was sick was very hard. One day I just had to do some laundry. Thankfully, a friend let me pop over to their house throughout the day to run laundry. Six trips and four loads later, we were set to make it until the part arrived for our washer.

The good news is the new part is now installed, and the washer is up and running again! Yay!

4. Hormones

The last issue may by TMI, but I think it is important to point out. Men, feel free to skip to the Food section if you don’t want to hear about “womanly” issues! I have to take a journey back a few years to fully explain this, so bear with me.

The menstrual cycle is regulated by hormones, and when all the hormones are in balance, regular menstrual cycles ensue through childbearing years. My menstrual cycle has never been regular, ever, and I struggled with infertility when trying to start our family. After many blood tests and ultrasounds, the fertility doctor told me it wasn’t that my body wasn’t working properly, as in the organs were functional, but my hormone levels were all out of whack. When the hormones are not in the right ratio to each other, functions, like menstruation, don’t start when they should.

To solve the infertility problem, I took some hormone regulating pills and voila, got pregnant.

Fast forward to summer 2017, when I am vigorously working on my diet to regulate my blood sugar and manage my type 1 diabetes. Guess what I did in the process? I regulated the hormones in my body, including the ones that control menstruation. Wheat can disrupt your hormones, did you know that??

After a few months on a gluten-free diet, I began have a regular, predictable menstrual cycle for the first time in my life. In my life. No joke. I have never been able to track my menstrual cycles, and now I can. Food is huge folks. I’m not kidding.

That was a lot of back story all to say, I think my average blood glucose level rises right before my menstrual cycle begins. Research goes both ways (blood sugar raises or lowers as a result of menstruation), basically it depends on the individual. For me, I think it raises a couple days before my cycle begins.

Ok, done with the “womanly” issues, on to the rest of the results of Week 3 of the Autoimmune Protocol Elimination Diet!

Food

My one change for this week of the Autoimmune Protocol: make breakfast easier. Included in my meal plan for the week was cooking breakfast only every other day. To accomplish this, I prepped the vegetables the night before, and I doubled every recipe so I cooked enough food for two meals. The prepping the vegetables took some discipline. “Cooking” once my kids are down for bed is not my favorite, but the result of putting breakfast on the table faster (and for 2 days!) was worth it.

Top Recipes of the Week

Cilantro Avocado Mayo – This dip was so good. I put more horseradish in than the recipe called for. I love the zing of horseradish! We dipped all sorts of things in it this week: roasted sweet potatoes, raw carrots and cucumbers, and Chicken Poppers.

Chicken Poppers – While called “poppers,” these chicken bites resemble chicken nuggets more. They were a hit with the whole family: super flavorful, juicy, (When eaten fresh, they were a tad dry reheated.) and fun to eat. I was hesitant to put raw bacon in my blender, and it did get wrapped around the blade a bit, but it all worked out. I worked in small batches, and it wasn’t too difficult to get everything blended in the end.

Zuppa Toscana – Wow! This soup was so flavorful! It uses zucchini instead of potatoes, but it was still flat out delicious. I did up the zucchini amount by about half, and I think I might add another vegetable next time. This soup is heavy on the broth, and I like my soups to be a little more chunky and hearty. It was very good, and it will become a regular on our table, I’m sure.

Blood Sugar

This week was rough. I was dealing with hormones fluctuating, sick family, lack of sleep, and general life pressures. I am not complaining just explaining. No one can have a perfect, stress-free life, and I want to paint a real picture of my life during the Autoimmune Protocol so you can have confidence to succeed as well.

My blood sugar was less stable this week, and I’m afraid there are too many variables for me to flesh out exactly what was the cause of my higher evening and morning blood sugar. My average blood sugar (straight average, no weighting) was 130. For reference, the straight average for Week 1 was 123 and Week 2 was 124. So while my blood glucose levels are still plenty low enough for a type 1 diabetic, this week was higher than my first two weeks on the Autoimmune Protocol. I am going to chalk this week up as an anomaly. Next week is bound to be better!

How I Feel

I spoke about my boundless energy in the summary of Week 2. If I didn’t have so much energy, I don’t know how I would have gotten through this week with (1) sick husband, (2) sick kids, (3) broken washer, (4) doing laundry at a friend’s house 2 miles away, and (5) still providing Autoimmune Protocol compliant meals, three times a day for me and my family. I had energy to do all of that and not collapse part way through the day or even at the end of the day.

This is what real food can do for you! It will nourish your body and provide you with all the energy you need to complete your work for the day, whatever that might be.

Goals for Week 4

I am hoping and striving to return to in-range morning blood sugar levels in this next week. Week 2 was so promising, but life hit me hard in Week 3. I press on with a positive outlook. I’m confident the Autoimmune Protocol will work!

With the setbacks at the end of Week 2 (Diet broken eating out) and Week 3 (sickness, hormones, lack of sleep, broken washer), I am beginning to wonder if I’ll need to extend the elimination phase longer than 30 days. My gut may need more time to heal. It’s just a thought right now. We’ll see how the remainder of the elimination phases goes.

When life hits you hard, it does not need to derail your health progress. The Autoimmune Protocol is completely doable while dealing with real life pressures and sickness. Healthy meals, in-range blood sugar, and feeling good (relative to the sickness of course!) are all still possible. For me, Week 3 was still on track overall, even with all of these less than advantageous factors.

What setbacks are you struggling with right now? Are you able to shake them off and press-on? What is your strategy for letting life’s stresses roll off your back?

Click to check out the Week 1 and Week 2 reviews. Follow me on Instagram to see how my progress goes each day!

Welcome new readers! A little background: I am an adult-onset, type 1 diabetic, who has found healing through a Paleo diet. I began my diet change journey by reading about the link of gluten to autoimmune diseases, further refined my diet to include more vegetables, then found dairy was irritating my gut too, so I went full-blown Paleo.

I’m starting to get the question from my in-person friends who read my blog…How do you eat like that everyday? How do you keep up? How do you have time to cook? I could never spend that much time in the kitchen, how do you do it?

I’ve been pondering how I actually do make this happen day in and day out. First of all, it is a lifestyle change. This is not something I intend to drop in a month or two. I’m in this for the long haul, so I am constantly working and refining my daily routine, shopping, and kitchen skills so I continue to get better and eating Paleo becomes easier.

Below are 10 Practical Solutions to Diet Change that I’ve learned over the last year to make my Paleo meal preparation easier and less time-consuming. I’ve learned (not necessarily mastered, mind you!) these over a year or more. If you can’t begin to imagine yourself doing this, take your time. One step at a time, and you will get there!

Prep Breakfast the Night Before

Chop the veggies, take the meat out of the freezer (Cook it too if you have time!), shred/grind/mince, whatever you need to do in the morning that would be time consuming, do it the night before. I chop each item, then put in individual containers in the fridge. In the morning, mise en place is done, just turn on your stove/oven and cook!

I’ve created some really yummy hashes for my Autoimmune Protocol. Hashes reheat so well. You can even cook them completely the night before, and simply reheat in the microwave or stovetop in the morning. Breakfast will be ready in less than 5 minutes!

Plan for Leftovers

This is a huge time and energy saver no matter your diet. I recommend it heartily no matter how you are menu planning. You need a break when you are cooking from scratch. Leftovers are the easiest way to get a break, stay on track with your diet, put a quick meal on the table, and save money by not eating out. Win, win, win, and win!

Embrace leftovers! Plan on having extra when you cook! It will relieve you of the stress of cooking a new meal every day!

Get the Family on Board

If mommy/daddy’s on a special diet, then we’re all on a special diet.

That’s a saying, right? The Paleo diet is an optimal diet for anyone: kids or adults, infant or elderly, pregnant or beer belly. 🙂 If one needs the diet (or just wants the health benefits!) then the whole family should adopt the diet.

This will ease temptations to cheat if there are no processed foods or wheat products in the house.

Solidarity – we can use all the support we can get, right?

Ask for Help from Your Family

If one adult in the family is slaving away in the kitchen day in and day out with no help, bitterness is not far away (and neither is quitting!). It’s a large task that needs hands-on support from the whole family. So beyond just “we all eat the same food” from above, we all need to help prepare the food. Here are a few examples of what I mean:

Ask your spouse to make one recipe while you make another. Dinner will be ready twice as fast (a good solution if you both work outside the home!).

Have your child to stir the pot while you add ingredients.

Ask your child to throw away the scraps from chopping vegetables.

Ask your spouse to grill the main meat course while you prepare the sides inside.

Ask your child/spouse to chop the vegetables while you start cooking.

Try New Foods

Nightshades are out during the Autoimmune Protocol. Nightshades are tomatoes and peppers. This restriction can feel very limiting and daunting at the beginning. Opening your mind to trying new foods, will greatly expand the palate of your meals and your enjoyment of them.

For example, take the soup pictured above. It is not tomato-based. Want to know where that red color comes from? Beets! Beets have been on my “Do Not Like” list since I was 6. After trying this recipe, I’ve decided I need to give beets another chance. This soup was flat out delicious!

A Paleo diet is heavy on the vegetables so to deepen your satisfaction with your meals and snacks, try a new vegetable each week! I bet you will be surprised how much you like vegetables!

Eat a Variety

You need variety in your diet (Paleo or otherwise) for both nutrition and palate. I heard a tidbit on theBroken Brain documentary that said,

You eat 21 meals in a week. Aim for 21 different vegetables.

I thought this was an interesting idea, so I counted up the vegetables I ate during Week 1 of the Autoimmune Protocol. I ate 14 different vegetables, listed below. Not bad! I think I could get more variety in my diet in the coming weeks.

Sweet Potato

Zucchinni

Carrots

Cauliflower

Avocado

Kale

Spinach

Butternut Squash

Broccoli

Mushroom

cabbage

acorn squash

celery

cucumber

Ready for the shocker: The delicious beet soup above that all of my family went back for seconds of, had 12 different vegetables in it! 12! That’s almost the same variety in my entire Autoimmune Protocol Week 1 menu plan! Think of all the nutrients in those vegetables too! So much better than eating a slice of bread or mac and cheese!

Learn Basic Knife Skills

Fact: You will have to chop a lot of vegetables for a Paleo diet.

You might as well learn how to do it right. Properly chopping a vegetable is not only quicker, but it uses less energy. Get on YouTube and search for how to cut a particular vegetable. There IS a proper way to chop an onion, to julienne carrots, to mince garlic (How to peel garlic! America’s Test Kitchen is a wealth of information. Trust them for all things kitchen! I’m getting sidetracked…), etc.

There is a best way to cut everything. Learn it and it will make your cooking easier and faster!

Invest in a Good Knife

Once you learn to chop/mince/dice properly, you’ll need a good knife that keeps its edge. There are lots of good ones out there, but you really don’t need to spend a fortune, especially for a home cook. This one is my favorite. It’s not very expensive, $24 right now, and it can be resharpened, which is key.

So while we’re on a roll in the knife category…

Learn How to Sharpen Your Knife(ves)

You can learn this by watching YouTube videos and purchasing a couple of whetstones. We have a course and a fine grit (for both smooth blades and serrated), and they have paid for themselves many times over. You can find someone local to you to sharpen your knives, but learning the skill will be so much cheaper and you’ll be able to sharpen them on your schedule. You won’t have to be without your favorite knife for a week!

Another perk? You’ve learned a useful skill! You know how to sharpen a knife!

And now for the last solution, but certainly not the least…

Try Again, Don’t Give Up

I’m reminded of a line from a poem my dad used to quote over and over to me growing up:

If at first you don’t succeed, try , try again.

Changing what you eat is hard. Learning how to prepare new vegetables and meat is difficult. Cooking from scratch is time-consuming. I want to tell you it is worth it. Your health is worth it. Your family’s health is worth it. Keep at it. Try again tomorrow.

The more vegetables you chop, the faster you will be.

The more vegetables you roast, the better you will become at identifying when it’s done.

The more recipes you cook, the better you will be at “throwing” something together at the last minute.

You will get better. You will get more efficient. Paleo will get easier. Keep trying!

What aspect of a Paleo diet change (or any diet change!) is the most daunting for you? Does spending time in the kitchen freak you out? Does eating food you suspect might not be yummy (or worse yet slimy/mushy!) give you the shivers? What is your sticking point for you? Share in the comments below!

To catch you all up, I am a Type 1, insulin-free, Diabetic managing my diabetes through a Paleo diet and healthy lifestyle. Over the holidays of 2017, I was exposed to dairy for about 8 weeks. “Exposed” sounds accidental. It was, but it was my own fault for not vetting my candy choices more carefully! This resulted in higher blood sugar levels overall, but especially in my fasting blood sugar which is taken first thing in the morning. Eliminating the candy from my diet didn’t yield improved enough blood sugar levels so on February 19, I began the 30 Day Autoimmune Protocol (more information on AIP) again to heal my gut and get my blood sugar levels back under control.

Check out how Week 1 went here! See my daily progress by following me on Instagram!

Week 2 of the Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) was even easier than Week 1, and MILES easier than when I attempted the AIP diet in October 2017.

I began to see more blood sugar control this week. Except the night the family went out for sorbet, I was high that night, but my blood sugar recovered nicely on it’s own without the help of artificial insulin. At the end of the week, I even saw another fasting blood sugar level less than 130! Woot! I’ve had 3 fasting blood sugar reading under 130 since beginning the diet, and I haven’t seen levels that low since November 2017. Yikes, I let this problem go on for far too long!

As with the review of Week 1, I will review the food I ate, how my blood sugar fared, how I felt this past week, and my goals for the next week. First up, Food!

Food

The variety of breakfast food this week was extremely satisfying to me: from delicious fresh fruit salad on Day 9 to roasted broccoli AND sweet potatoes on Day 11 to savory cauliflower mash on Day 12. I really enjoyed the variety of vegetables and flavors this week.

I made two different types of hash this week. One simple with sweet potatoes, onion, and kale, and the other more involved with roasted butternut squash, sauteed mushrooms, breakfast sausage, and spinach. Both stood alone just fine and were filling and satisfying, but there was a little part of me wishing for a yoke-y egg on top. Sigh. Soon.

Dinner out on Day 12 did not follow the Autoimmune Protocol. I had egg and refined sugar in the dessert. The dinner qualifies as Paleo but not with the extra restrictions of the Autoimmune Protocol. I did end the night of Day 12 with great blood sugar (126!), but my blood sugar was elevated all day on Day 13. While this is not the end of the world, I am trying to keep note so I will know exactly how food affects my body (This is one of my goals for 2018!).

It was my goal at the end of Week 1 to include fish and organ meat, but I accomplished neither. Oops. I opted out in favor of staying on budget. Seafood in Michigan is not cheap (is it cheap anywhere???), and I didn’t hunt too hard to find organ meat. I still need to work on putting on my big-girl pants for that one.

Overall though, the week was filled with delicious food. Look at the color variety in those pictures! It was a tasty week!

Top Recipes of the Week

Nightshade-free Vegetable Beef Soup – This was hands-down my favorite recipe this week. The color was stunning, and it even fooled my husband! His first comment when peeking in the pot before dinner, “I thought tomatoes were out of our diet right now?!” It was super tasty and filling. All four of us went back for seconds. The only caveats I would add are (1) it was time-consuming to make (2 hours) and (2) it made at least 12 servings (The recipe says 6-8. No way, we might even get 15!). I totally don’t mind either of these conditions. It was delicious; therefore, well worth my time. Also, we love leftovers!

Roasted Vegetable and Chicken Soup – This soup has a wonderful complexity to it due to roasting the vegetables first then pureeing half and adding the puree to the broth. This was in our regular rotation prior to starting the Autoimmune Protocol. I was thrilled to read through the recipe to see that it was still AIP compliant! Super delicious soup. Try it!

Mashed Cauliflower Breakfast Bowl – I was looking for different breakfast options other than hash, and I stumbled upon this cauliflower mash. It was delightful. It kind of reminded me of oatmeal in that it was hot and mushy, but the savory flavors were out of this world! I absolutely love sauteed mushrooms and bacon. They are a perfect combination! The only note I need to make is follow the seasoning ratios. I tend to pour spices in my palm to measure, and I overdid it a bit. The cauliflower mash was not just savory. It was SAVORY. I’ll scale back a bit next time!

Blood Sugar

Improving my overall blood sugar level AND reducing my morning (fasting) blood sugar are the primary reasons I am doing the Autoimmune Protocol. That is what diabetes is all about: blood sugar management. I made improvement in my fasting blood sugar this week. I had 3 mornings with readings less than 130! That is a major win for me!

You’ll notice a spike in the blue, squiggly line. That is the night my husband and I took the family out for sorbet. My blood sugar was high at bedtime (199!), but it recovered just fine by morning (144).

If you ignore the sorbet spike, week 2 looks just about the same as week 1, a little lower at times and a little higher at times. The pattern looks the same though. I’m also counting this as a win and calling it blood sugar control. My blood sugar is following a predictable pattern each day and throughout the day.

For reference, the squiggly lines show the fluctuation of my blood glucose readings throughout the day, and the straight line of the same color is showing the trend of my blood sugar levels that week. Red is week 1, and blue is week 2.

Conclusion: The Autoimmune Protocol diet is creating more stable blood sugars. Other than outlier of sorbet, my blood sugar is following a predictable, stable pattern for a Type 1 Diabetic.

I am so thrilled by more on-goal fasting blood sugars. I’m hoping to see those more consistently in the coming weeks.

How I Feel

I’ve noticed this week on the days I wake with a blood sugar level of less than or around 130, I have vastly more energy to work out. I’m usually still asleep a bit and a tad not-wanting-to-workout when I begin my morning workout. The mornings my blood sugar was 136, 132, and 120, I was raring to go the entire work-out. That was odd to me, yet invigorating!

My husband has asked before if I feel different when I’m around 100 as opposed to 150 or 170. I’ve always told him no, I feel the same if I’m below 300. There’s no difference. After this week, I think there might be a difference in my level of energy! I will have to keep tracking this to be sure.

Do you want endless energy??? I think you should give this diet a try! (Or even just the less strict Paleo diet if you don’t have leaky gut. Actually, start with just not eating wheat!) You will be a whole new person!

Goals for Week 3

For Week 3, my diet will not see any major changes. The focus will continue to be on eating a good quantity and variety of vegetables that are Autoimmune Protocol approved. Seafood and organ meat were not in Week 2, and due to budget constraints, I have to make the same decision in Week 3.

The huge win for the week was fasting blood sugars of 130 or less in the second half of Week 2, so I’m hoping that means my gut is healing. I’m hoping to continue to see blood sugar level improvement for the morning readings.

I am so pleased with these results. I’m eating well and enjoying my food. I am not stressed by the diet, and I’m seeing results. What more could a girl ask for?!

That wraps up my second week on the Autoimmune Protocol 30 Day Elimination Diet! Check out Instagram to see how my progress goes each day!

Do I have any diabetic readers out there who’d care to share what your typical fasting blood sugar levels look like? What strategies have you tried to maintain control of these levels? Is this the most difficult reading of the day to manage?

For my non-diabetic readers, what you working to change in your diet to make your diet move in the healthier direction? More veggies? Cleaner ingredients? Grass-fed meat? What successes have you had lately?? Any suggestions for meats/veggies I should try?

I’ve made it through the first week of the Autoimmune Protocol elimination diet! I must say this round of AIP has been much easier than when I attempted in in October.

The difference this time is I’ve found many more resoures for tasty AIP (Autoimmune Protocol) recipes. I know this might sound snobbish, but I just can’t tolerate bland food. I spend a lot of time in the kitchen, and it is deflating for me to put so much time and effort into a meal only to have it tatse boring and lackluster.

I have shared all the meals I made this week along with the stand-outs below. Some recipes I tried were absolutely fantastic. I will be making them again soon! Here are a couple blogs that have helped me get through this week with ease.

In this review each week, I will review the food I ate, how my blood sugar fared, how I felt this past week, and my goals for the next week. With that being said, let’s dive into the food. It’s all about the food, isn’t it?

Food

Breakfast was the meal I was least confident in my ability to provide nutritious, delicious meals that my whole family would enjoy. My main concern? Not eating eggs. Eggs are out for the 30 day elimination period of the autoimmune protocol. My youngest still shouts out every morning as he comes down the stairs, “Mommy, are you making EGGS?!?” Emphasis is real, he loves his eggs. He is surviving without his eggs though, as are the rest of us.

To be honest, I am not just surviving. I’m thriving. I know that’s cliche to say, but it’s true. These breakfasts fill me up, give me energy to hop up from the table and attack my day, and keep me full until lunch. There’s no mid-morning crash, no cravings around 11am, and no bloat. I am fueled, energized, and ready for the day after eating this diet.

I listed out the recipes below the picture on the day I made them (If you’d like more ideas, check out my AIP board on Pinterest). You will see I planned for leftovers, and I believe this is necessary for success in this diet. The time in the kitchen is quite a bit more than the typical American is used to. In order to maximize that time and minimize the time in the kitchen other days, plan and use leftovers.

As you can see, I ate well! Both my husband and I were more satisfied after each meal than we were the first time we tried the elimination diet. I don’t know the exact reason for this possibly more fat or just flavors we enjoy. From further reading, I know we were lacking fish and organ meat in our diet. I will try to include that next week. The organ meat will be a first for me!

Blood Sugar

If you’ve been following along on Instagram, you’ve seen my blood glucose readings every day. They have been really good for a type 1 diabetic, especially one not using insulin! My blood sugar is definitely lower overall and far less volatile.

Being the numbers nerd that I am (I was an actuarial analyst in my past life!), I wanted to put a graph to the numbers.

The squiggly lines show the fluctuation of my blood glucose readings throughout the day. The red line is the week before I started the AIP diet, i.e. the Control Week (although I had already cut out coffee and alcohol during this week). The blue squiggly line is my blood glucose readings after I started the AIP diet. Notice that the red line has higher peaks. The blue line doesn’t go above 150 (that’s a major win!).

Now data with that much variation is hard to draw conclusions from, so I drew a trend line (exponential, for those interested, I don’t expect you do be!) so I could see the general direction of the data.

The light red, straight line is the trend line for the control week, and the light blue, straight line is the trend line for AIP Week 1. The blue line is lower overall from the red line, and it is headed down whereas the light red line is trending up.

Conclusion: The Autoimmune Protocol diet is not only lowering my average blood sugar level, it is causing each reading to be going lower and lower (towards normal = 100) over time.

Major win. I’m excited to see what the following weeks have in store!

How I Feel

If any of you out there are skeptical of the impact that changing your diet could have on your long-term health, daily productivity, and general feeling of well being in your body, you are not alone. I was there once too. I was a total skeptic of the role of gluten in our bodies (the negative role, mind you, in everyone’s body.) For example, I thought it was totally ridiculous that my church started only serving Cherrios as snack in the children’s classes to eliminate allergens from the classroom (And now, one year later, I don’t even want my kids to eat Cherrios at all!).

What I thought was true has been totally turned on its head. Diet is infinitely important, and you can heal your body through food!

Beyond the role of food, I was also skeptical that I would feel different when eating a Paleo/AIP diet.

Wrong again, folks.

I thought I had plenty of energy to complete my day, but now, I have endlessenergy. I don’t have a problem completing household chores in the afternoon or evening. Prior to my first elimination diet, if I didn’t get my cleaning, laundry, projects done before noon, they weren’t getting done at all. I just didn’t have the energy or desire to keep working after lunch.

All that has changed. I have energy to clean the bathrooms during nap time. I have energy to prep vegetables for breakfast the next day after the kids go to bed. I have so. much. energy. My desire to keep going throughout the day has changed too. While I don’t always jump for joy to wash the dishes, I can talk myself into it easily. I have the energy, it really is quick, why not?

So how did I feel during Week 1?

I felt great, but I did get sick days 4 and 5. I had a sore throat, and actually, it was the shortest-lived sore throat I’ve ever had: 36 hours! That might be a testament to how healthy and strong my body is! Just a guess…

I’ve had energy to not only cook more fresh meals with more vegetables, but I’ve kept up on my other responsibilities. If this had happened a year ago, the laundry would be undone, house filthy, and I might have skipped commitments to try to catch-up.

It’s been a great week!

Goals for Week 2

For Week 2, I plan to eat some fish and organ meat. I have learned to like fish as an adult, but I have never bought, prepared, or eaten organ meat. This will be a learning experience for me!

Otherwise, Week 2 is planned to be much of the same as Week 1. I hope not to get sick this week so that my sleep schedule stays on track, but really, I only slept in on Day 5. I was still on routine the rest of the days.

That wraps up my first week on the Autoimmune Protocol Elimination Diet! Check out Instagram to see how my progress goes each day!

Anyone else doing hard things out there? Is your interest piqued to heal your body with food? Do you have any questions or topics you’d like me to cover? Comment below or send me a note!

The autoimmune protocol is a specialized diet that eliminates inflammatory foods to stop the body’s immune system from over-reacting (an autoimmune response). The purpose of the autoimmune protocol is not only to stop the autoimmune response, but to allow the body to heal from the autoimmune attack.The diet nourishes the body with its focus on nutrient dense meats, vegetables, and fruits giving the body exactly what it needs to thrive. For some autoimmune diseases, it is possible to cure the autoimmune disease through this diet and environmental/lifestyle changes. For more information, read this post.

I am an adult-onset, insulin-free, type 1 diabetic. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease. The trigger is not known definitively, but I strongly suspect gluten is the culprit. However, autoimmune diseases are not triggered by just one thing. There are three things that could trigger an autoimmune disease: genes, environment, and diet. The best news is genetic predisposition to a disease is not a guarantee that you will develop the disease. Changing your diet and lifestyle choices, meaning what you eat and your daily habits like sleep and exercise, can very possibly cause those genes to not fire. This means if you eat the right food and take care of your body, it is unlikely you will develop an autoimmune disease, even one that runs in your family.

I hate to say it, but I need to go on another elimination diet (aka autoimmune protocol). My morning and sometimes evening blood sugars are just not what they should be. I think they can be better. I know they can be better. They have in the past.

My Past Experience with AIP

Back in October 2017 when I did my first elimination diet, I followed the meal plan and methods in The Autoimmune Solution by Dr. Amy Meyers. I saw immediate blood glucose improvement the first day I was on the diet. The results were truly amazing and so encouraging!

However, the food was simply not tasty. I love to cook. I’m pretty good at it (at least I think so!), and I just couldn’t handle spending hours in the kitchen to only have a bland, unimpressive meal. My taste buds demand more.

For that reason alone, I only stayed on the strict diet for 2 weeks before I started adding back in some of the restricted food. I thought I had narrowed down my blood sugar level issues to dairy and non-gluten grains, as those were the two biggest categories of food that I eliminated on the diet. So I slowly added back in the restricted, but possibly ok, items one at a time: eggs, nuts, coffee, nightshades, and alcohol.

My morning and evening blood sugar readings stayed great until November 23, Thanksgiving. I had bought chocolate covered blueberries and acai berries to have as a snack while family was in town over the holidays. I neglected to check the ingredients thoroughly, and they had dairy. My morning readings jumped in one night from 110-145 to 160+.

Wow, I wish I had walked through my past readings and diet changes like I just did to write this post! The change is obvious! I didn’t find the solution to my higher readings (candy with dairy) until well in January.

Why I Need AIP Again

I’ve been very strict about my dairy exposure for the last three weeks, but my morning blood glucose levels are not lowering. I cut out alcohol on January 27 and coffee on February 2. My morning blood glucose still remains the same.

I think I need to heal my gut again. I’m going back on the Autoimmune Protocol starting on Monday, February 19, 2018.

Steps to Success with AIP

This time, I’m doing it my way. I finally discovered what the “AIP” tag on various Paleo recipes means. Autoimmune Protocol! It’s the same elimination diet I had tried in October 2017! I’ve found more blogs and books to read, and the world has opened a little more to me. There are even more people out there healing themselves through food! It’s not just me!

Some of them are food bloggers who share AIP (Autoimmune Protocol) friendly recipes. Yay! Good food!! However, I am careful to watch my carbohydrate intake, even while on the AIP diet. I am still a type 1 diabetic without a fully functioning pancreas. Some AIP recipes rely on cassava/tapioca/arrowroot flour, and I must limit my intake of those because they increase my blood sugar dramatically. I will be eating fresh food: meat, vegetables, and fruit.

The menu is planned, groceries are budgeted and purchased, and I’ve formulated a plan for accountability. I am ready to rock this round of the Autoimmune Protocol!

Menu Plan

Notice all the “leftovers” in the menu above? I intentionally tried to make most meals stretch for two. Diets like these are no joke. They require effort in the kitchen, so I want to maximize my effort by cooking double when I do cook so that I can have at least one easy meal the next day (maybe two!).

Also notice on Thursday, I have two “leftover” meals planned. After a few days of making new recipes, I find I have many odds and ends of leftovers: one serving of soup here, another serving of hash there. I pull all of those out and try to clean out the fridge. Everyone eats something different, and no food gets wasted! (And it gives me another meal or two off cooking! Score!)

Groceries & Budget

I was over budget for this shopping trip. My budget for one week is $130, and I spent $155 for this week’s worth of meals. I use YNAB faithfully to make sure overspending on groceries doesn’t eat away at the rest of the budget. This is the beauty of a budget: I just borrowed some money from our miscellaneous category to cover the budget over flow. The budget is still on track! I am guessing I’ll be a little over most weeks I do the AIP. It’s even more expensive than just a Paleo diet.

My fridge is filled to the brim. It’s so full, I’m afraid some of my produce will freeze due to lack of air flow! I need the weather to cool down again so I can use my second fridge, aka the garage!

Accountability

My main source of accountability is my husband. He is always with me and rooting for me in all these health adventures. Even though he doesn’t have a pressing health problem, he willingly takes my diet restrictions on himself. He is supportive every time I want to quit, and he helps me problem-solve, troubleshoot when things go awry.

My second source will be you. I plan to share quick updates on Instagram, and a weekly, more detailed, recap on this ole blog. Facebook will also have these same updates. Follow me to see how things are going day by day!

Resources

As I mentioned above, figuring out what the “AIP” abbreviation meant on recipes posted on Pinterest was eye-opening. All the sudden, I could find so many recipes to help me through the elimination phase of the AIP diet. This discovery is what gave me the courage to try it again. I can do anything as long as my food tastes good. Ha!

I also checked out some very interesting books from the library, and wouldn’t you know, they all say the same thing! There are more published authors out there proclaiming the healing value of food.

Here are some good books and blogs to look into if you are looking to heal you gut, cure an autoimmune disease, or just looking for a healthier lifestyle than you will find from your doctor’s office.